Monday, February 13, 2012

Testing the new C A R (Candy Apple Red)

A little over two weeks ago, I wasn't sure if I could pull the trigger. I happened to be cleaning up for house guests from Japan when I came across a Williams-Sonoma catalog. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the newest bad boy in the Kitchenaid lineup of mixers. . .a seven-quart behemoth. I tried to convince myself that I could live without it, and I even went so far as to look up prices at Amazon.com and eBay to convince myself Williams-Sonoma was overpriced.

Wrong move! Amazon was selling it for $799 + shipping, and eBay had one for $600 with an additional $145 for shipping. That's when I knew I couldn't pass up the Williams-Sonoma deal. For $603 (which includes $30 shipping and Hawaii tax), the mixer was delivered to my door within a week of pulling the trigger. I'm waiting for my $40 cash back and my 2-year subscription to Food & Wine magazine to arrive. . .all perks for buying from Williams-Sonoma before the end of March!

This baby is just a quart larger than the model it replaced. The diameter of the bowl feels the same, but the bowl seems to be a lot deeper than the six-quart. The most salient point is the noise level. This baby is much quieter. I can actually hear the tv even when I have the mixer going. Of course, the true test of a mixer is the quality of the food it produces.

In between cleaning house, I managed to distract myself by making muffins and cookies. The corn muffin recipe can be found here. Sandy and I worked together at Moanalua. She was a home ec teacher there before moving closer to home (Kalaheo).
I wanted to bake cookies with the kids for Valentines Day, and I was leaning towards spritz cookies. Somehow, I ended up owing a favor to one of the vice principals at HHS. He told me he likes oatmeal cookies with raisins. Having never made oatmeal cookies before, I took this as a challenge and set off to find/tweak a recipe. The pictures you are seeing here are from my 2nd attempt. My 1st attempt produced horrific cookies which resembled lace cookies instead of cookie-jar quality oatmeal cookies. I quickly searched for another recipe to tweak.

For best results, especially if you like your cookies on the thicker side, chill cookie sheets/dough balls while waiting to bake.

A few notes before I sign off for this week

I know the vice principal said he likes raisins, and I'm sure substituting raisins for the cranberries would make a decent cookie. I don't like raisins at all so I wasn't about to make a cookie with ingredients I don't like. That would be just dumb. If he doesn't like cranberries, HE can pull all of them out himself.

The 7-qt Kitchenaid mixer is available in four colors: white, black, silver & candy apple red. As far as I'm concerned, there was only one choice.

A little over two weeks ago, I wasn't sure if I could pull the trigger. I happened to be cleaning up for house guests from Japan when I came across a Williams-Sonoma catalog. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the newest bad boy in the Kitchenaid lineup of mixers. . .a seven-quart behemoth. I tried to convince myself that I could live without it, and I even went so far as to look up prices at Amazon.com and eBay to convince myself Williams-Sonoma was overpriced.

Wrong move! Amazon was selling it for $799 + shipping, and eBay had one for $600 with an additional $145 for shipping. That's when I knew I couldn't pass up the Williams-Sonoma deal. For $603 (which includes $30 shipping and Hawaii tax), the mixer was delivered to my door within a week of pulling the trigger. I'm waiting for my $40 cash back and my 2-year subscription to Food & Wine magazine to arrive. . .all perks for buying from Williams-Sonoma before the end of March!

This baby is just a quart larger than the model it replaced. The diameter of the bowl feels the same, but the bowl seems to be a lot deeper than the six-quart. The most salient point is the noise level. This baby is much quieter. I can actually hear the tv even when I have the mixer going. Of course, the true test of a mixer is the quality of the food it produces.

In between cleaning house, I managed to distract myself by making muffins and cookies. The corn muffin recipe can be found here. Sandy and I worked together at Moanalua. She was a home ec teacher there before moving closer to home (Kalaheo).
I wanted to bake cookies with the kids for Valentines Day, and I was leaning towards spritz cookies. Somehow, I ended up owing a favor to one of the vice principals at HHS. He told me he likes oatmeal cookies with raisins. Having never made oatmeal cookies before, I took this as a challenge and set off to find/tweak a recipe. The pictures you are seeing here are from my 2nd attempt. My 1st attempt produced horrific cookies which resembled lace cookies instead of cookie-jar quality oatmeal cookies. I quickly searched for another recipe to tweak.

For best results, especially if you like your cookies on the thicker side, chill cookie sheets/dough balls while waiting to bake.

A few notes before I sign off for this week

I know the vice principal said he likes raisins, and I'm sure substituting raisins for the cranberries would make a decent cookie. I don't like raisins at all so I wasn't about to make a cookie with ingredients I don't like. That would be just dumb. If he doesn't like cranberries, HE can pull all of them out himself.

The 7-qt Kitchenaid mixer is available in four colors: white, black, silver & candy apple red. As far as I'm concerned, there was only one choice.